Jn 2:3,4 When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine." "Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My time has not yet come."

Living in the twenty-first century, many of us have highly pressurized schedules. Work demands press in on us and we feel squeezed by the demands made upon us. People demand our time or effort and the already heavy schedule becomes heavier still. We allow ourselves to think that we are indispensable and so we take on more and more.

When we examine the life and ministry of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Gospels, we might expect, with all the power at his call, that Jesus would take any and every opportunity to use that power to bless people, yet the truth is that he seemed to calmly work at what was there and did not allow himself to be put under pressure. In previous meditations we have seen that Jesus does “ only what he sees his Father doing ” ( Jn 5:19 ) so if the Father was not moving the Son did not either. A lso, under-girding his ministry was the basic desire to do the Father's will (Heb 10:7) with a plan decreed before the foundation of the world (1 Pet 1:20 ). Thus there was purpose with no rush.

Our verse here today does not tell the whole story though. There was a problem at the wedding and Jesus' mother looked to him to help out in some way. As a friend of the family and a good mother she is naturally concerned. Jesus' twofold answer seems to have a human and a divine element to it. The first part seems to ask “What do you expect me to do about it?” but in the light of the second part might be more likely to mean “Don't go dragging me in, that's not how it works!” That seems partially at least to be the human side of his reply. The latter part is clearly the divine aspect; it's like he is saying, “I'm working to my Father's schedule and he hasn't indicated He's going to do anything here.” Now we can only take Jesus' statements at face value and so as at the end of his statement his intention is not to get involved, yet a few moments later it seems he is instructing the servants. What changed?

The answer has got to be, the following response of his mother: “ His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you.” (v.5), which is a response of faith. Now one of the things we need to do is learn to observe when the Father is moving, what are the signs that He is moving? We suggest that Mary's response was as a result of the prompting of the Father. Faith, the Bible says comes from hearing God's word (Rom 10:17 ). In every healing, in every miracle, there is faith – in someone – indicating the Father's intention to move. Thus Mary's faith here is the sign of the Father's intention to move, so the Son instructs accordingly.

So what do we have here? We have an awareness in Jesus that he is working to a plan which will culminate in his death at the end of three years' ministry. Within that plan, within that schedule, the controlling issue is what is the Father's intent for the things immediately before us? So yes, he has a schedule but within that schedule there is movement and flexibility according to the Father's heart. The Father knew the times perfectly. Time was always significant in Jesus' ministry: “The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near” (Mk 1:15), “Jesus told them, "The right time for me has not yet come” (Jn 7:6) “At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come” (Jn 7:30). Lessons for us? Recognise God has a plan which involves time. We need to learn to be sensitive to His moving within that plan!

Jn 2:7-10 Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet."

They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."

John's Gospel is full of picture language. Some of it is Jesus' direct teaching, e.g. “I am the gate” (Jn 10:7), some of it are references from others, e.g. “Behold the Lamb of God” (Jn 1:29). Some of it was clearly figurative language with a meaning, e.g. “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him” (Jn 7:37 ,38). Sometimes he did things which were a picture of a spiritual reality, as in today's verses.

First of all the facts of what actually happened, the things we would have seen if we had been there. They run out of wine at the wedding feast, Jesus instructs the servants to fill large jars with water and when they do that and take it to the master of the banquet it has all turned into first class wine. That is what actually happened but the next verse, as we'll see tomorrow, says “This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee . He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.” This, says the writer John, revealed something of Jesus.

So what did it show about Jesus? Well first, quite obviously, it shows that Jesus was a man of care and compassion. The wedding was in trouble and he had the means to help so he did. Second, he obviously had the power to do miracles, for turning water into first class wine is certainly a miracle. But was that the only reason that John included this miracle which does not appear in the other three Gospels? John tries to get us to think and believe. So in its basic terms, what happened here? Jesus took something very ordinary (water) and turned it into something capable of bringing pleasure, something of character and wonder (well that's what connoisseurs of wine tell us about a fine wine).

So here are millions of tired and weary people, living ordinary, humdrum lives, who are longing for something more and Jesus comes along and says, “Yes, they're a bit like water aren't they, just sufficient to stay alive, but would you like them transformed to be full of interesting flavour, full of potential to bring life and joy, and to be freed up?” That's the offer that is hidden in this little episode, the offer of life transformation.

Jn 2:13-17 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!" His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your house will consume me.”

Children in Sunday School may sing about ‘Gentle Jesus, meek and mild' but the picture in these verses is far from that. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones used to suggest that ‘appeasement' can be one of the biggest banes of church life. It is the compromising of principles to keep the peace. The Jewish sacrificial system required sinners to come and make an animal offering. To make that easier to happen in a world where fewer people kept sheep or cattle, the Temple authorities arranged to have animals on standby so that people could come, buy their animal and then sacrifice it. Slowly the area of the Temple precincts became more and more a business and instead of a change-machine that we might have today, there were money changers who could give you the right amount to pay for your sacrifice, using the correct ‘temple' currency. It all seemed quite reasonable and certainly acceptable in the eyes of the religious leaders of the day. The only trouble was that the Temple, which should have been a place of quiet, a place of prayer, a place of meeting with Almighty God, had become a place of hubbub with the noise of people and of animals. It was a far thing from what God intended it to be.

And then Jesus arrived! Like a whirlwind he cleared the market out. Tables are turned over, animals are driven out and pandemonium breaks loose. The word radical is almost frowned upon today because it so goes against the grain of political correctness, multiculturalism and liberal pluralism. Anyone and everyone has a right to think or say what they like because who can claim to have real truth. Truth is what it is to you and that may be different for me, so the mantra goes. So in society we tolerate unholy and unrighteous practices as we compromise truth to appease the pressure groups of the ungodly. Radical means to go to the root of something and a radical is someone who settles for only what is going to the very root of things, the truth. My dictionary even speaks of someone who wants ‘thorough reform'.

Today, if we had been in Jesus situation as he walks into this market-temple, we would have thought, “I wonder who I can speak to, to gently register a complaint, no a concern, about all this?” and the thought of upsetting people would have been the thing we would have wanted to avoid at all costs. We mustn't say or do anything that might upset people! That is part of the modern mantra! It doesn't matter that there is childhood prostitution in our nation, it doesn't matter that we have abortion by convenience, it doesn't matter that we have television filled with sex and aggressive expletives at every turn. We mustn't upset anyone – unless they are Christians, and then it is all right. If you are uncertain about this, read your papers a bit more thoroughly!

God was offended and so Jesus was offended. That was more important than worrying about offending the unholy and the unrighteous. Jesus' priorities were a bit different to ours. Perhaps it's time to change that!

Jn 2:18-21 Then the Jews demanded of him, "What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?" Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" But the temple he had spoken of was his body.

Matthew and Mark both record at Jesus' trial, accusations that he would destroy the temple, but do not record Jesus actually saying that. It is one of those things that John picks upon and obviously feels needs remedying. Having performed a miracle in Cana in Galilee , Jesus now goes down to Jerusalem and cleanses the temple. No doubt the word had gone out, telling of what he had been doing in the north, but the religious Jews of Jerusalem want to know by what authority he upsets the temple. What they imply is, ‘Word has it that you are the Messiah, what miraculous sign can you give us that this is so?' Now presumably Jesus did miracles of healing here at this time because shortly after we read, “Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name” (v.23) so the ordinary people believed in him. The ‘Jews' referred to here would have been the religious zealots of the temple. How dare you do this in our beloved temple precincts, is what they are saying. Give us a sign to show who you are.

Now two things that come out of reading the Gospels are pertinent here. The first is that Jesus did not pander to unbelief and so where he was confronted by unbelieving hearts, he did not go out of his way to win them over. Openness to belief is what counts first with God, then He will give evidence. The second thing is that so often Jesus spoke in parables or allegories so that only true seekers would think it through and see what he was really saying (see Mt 13:10-17). So here, in our verses today, Jesus refused to give these unbelieving hearts a clear answer, but he does give an allegorical answer that is the truth. The truth will evade them!

OK, they are concerned about their beloved temple; let's give them something to really thing about. Now note carefully what Jesus says. He doesn't say, I will destroy this temple. That was a misquote at his trial! This is significant in what follows. He says, “You destroy this temple and I'll rebuild it in three days” He's talking about his body, they're talking about the building. They get upset at the thought of rebuilding this massive building in three days; he's talking about his resurrection.

Right early on in his Gospel, John tells us that Jesus was referring to his death and resurrection from early on in his ministry, as disguised as the reference was. So confusing was it to the ‘Jews', the religious authority people of Jerusalem, that they misquoted it at his trial. Go through the Gospels and you will find many references to Jesus speaking about his death and resurrection. The resurrection was not just an event, it was an event prophesied by Jesus many times. He knew exactly what was going to happen at the end of the three years; that was what it was all working towards. His ministry was to reveal him for who he was, revealing the character of God as never before. His death was to open the door for us to be reconciled to God, and his resurrection was to confirm who he was and his right to claim to have dealt with the Sin of the world so that we can be forgiven. No   w there is a new ‘dwelling place of God' (1 Cor 3:16 , 6:19 )

Jn 3:1-12, esp. v.5    Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.

Philosophers from the earliest years of civilization have discussed what is real in the world. Is life an illusion? Just what is real? Such questions actually go to the heart of religion. All round the world millions and millions of human beings perform religious acts as an expression of religious beliefs in some form of deity, yet how many of them know a reality or encounter with that deity?

In Jesus' day the Pharisees were a group of conservative religious believers who had made ‘keeping the Law' an art form. One night one of their leaders, a man named Nicodemus, comes to Jesus. He acknowledges that Jesus must have come from God to be able to perform the miracles that he does. The way he says this suggests that he has a question to follow and perhaps, being a law-keeping Pharisee, it might have been about why Jesus didn't seem to pay enough attention to the minutiae of the Law. Jesus, however, doesn't give him the opportunity to go down that path. He knows where he's going so short-circuits it by telling Nicodemus that to really experience and please God you need to be born again. Now that was a bit sneaky of Jesus because that was really the end answer to a series of questions that hadn't been asked.

The conversation could have gone like this: Jesus, why aren't you worried about all the details of the Lord. Because that clearly doesn't help you get to know God. What do you mean? Well, law-keeping simply makes you conscious of personal failure. So how can we encounter God? By having a life led by the Holy Spirit. How can we have that? By being born again, of the Spirit, having a new encounter with God by His Spirit because only spirit can communicate with Spirit.

But Jesus didn't let that conversation flow; he wanted Nicodemus to think it out himself, but sadly Nicodemus is set in his thinking and needs help, so Jesus explains it in terms of a new spirit birth. He doesn't bother with the rest; he knows that Nicodemus is aware of his own failures trying to keep the Law, trying to have a relationship with God. Jesus knows all of us and he knows we struggle if we try to base relationship with God on trying to be good. That is reality: all round the world there are millions of people wanting to be good, trying to keep the religious rules and only feeling bad about it, because they fail. The result? Hypocrisy! People pretending to be ‘all right' but deep down unhappy and dissatisfied.

No, the reality is that if you want a real, living relationship with God who is a Spirit, you need to have it in the spirit realm, and that means you need to have a spirit encounter, spirit help, spirit enabling. Put another way you need part of God's spirit in you so that you can communicate with Him and he can communicate with you – by spirit. This is what Nicodemus and every seeker must realize. This is not something you can do. All you can do is come to God in humility and contrition and seek His forgiveness, seek His cleansing, seek His guidance, seek a new life – and leave the rest up to Him. It's not a case of being sufficiently good, it's a case of coming to the end of yourself where you see that it's only God who can change you. This is reality, this is what this ‘born again' is all about so we “become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.” (Jn 1:12,13)

Jn 3:12, 13    I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven--the Son of Man. .

We considered in the previous meditation that people worldwide are always struggling with what is reality. Part of that struggle is wondering about an alternate reality, the spirit world. Some other religions find another existence as the end product of this present existence but nowhere outside the Bible are there such clear indications of the place of God's existence – heaven (Mt 6:9). It is the place where God's will is perfectly done (Mt 6:10 ), where He rules. Various ‘heavenly visions' are given in the Bible - in Isaiah, Ezekiel and Revelation.

Now if John differs from the Synoptic Gospels, one of the ways he does most clearly is in his references to Jesus coming down from heaven. The other three writers had not ‘seen' this; it had not been significant in their thinking, but John in his years of pondering all that had happened, realized that if Jesus truly was the Son of God, then a number of his words now made sense and should be included in this Gospel, that had been omitted from the previous three, his references to having come from heaven: “The one who comes from above is above all” (Jn 3:31), “For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (Jn 6:33), “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.” (Jn 6:38 ), “I am the living bread that came down from heaven” (Jn 6:51 ), “What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before!” ( Jn 6:62), “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began” (Jn 17:5), “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world” (Jn 17:24).

Do you see this? Jesus didn't just come into existence when he was conceived in Mary; he had existed with the Father in heaven before time began. He knew heaven, he knew the Father and therefore unlike anyone else in all of history he could speak of that ‘other world' with authority, because he had come from there. This is yet another way that marks Jesus Christ out as unique in history and thus makes Christianity unique among world religions.

This was a claim that upset people then – “They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, `I came down from heaven'?” (Jn 6:42) – and today, because it not only marks him out as unique, but it also makes valid everything he said, and thus acts as a greater challenge to those who are godless. Oh yes, it wasn't only his miraculous life that marked him out, not only his death and resurrection that declared him unique, but this particular claim that he came down from heaven where he had always lived with his Father, God.

Remember this was still part of the conversation with Nicodemus, who struggled to understand the things Jesus was saying. There is a sense where Jesus is saying to him, if you have struggled with things I've been saying that have earthly meanings, there's almost no point in me trying to share with you things about heaven where I come from because you'll really be lost! Oh no, we really need Jesus' revelation to understand that.

Jn 3:14,15    Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life”

Snakes have quite a history in the Bible and to understand this reference we need to go back into the Old Testament. Of course the first snake that is mentioned is Satan (Gen 3:1,14). Mostly when we think of snakes we think of a snake's bite or the crushing strength of bigger snakes. Danger seems to go with snakes and indeed in Israel 's wanderings in the wilderness, snakes really were a problem sometimes. Is it significant that God turned Moses staff into a snake (Ex 4:3) and told Moses to take hold of it, perhaps a picture of Moses overcoming evil (Pharaoh) by God's power? However the crucial episode that Jesus is obliquely referring to here, comes in Numbers 21 when, in the wilderness, Israel started grumbling against the Lord (21:5) and the Lord sent snakes to bite the grumblers (21:6). When the people repented, the Lord told Moses to make a bronze snake and set it up on a pole and then anyone who had been bitten, and who repented, could come to the snake and they would live (21:8,9).

Jesus has been piling images into Nicodemus's mind to help him understand and so now he adds this Old Testament picture so that in the days to come Nicodemus will look back, remember, and understand what is happening. Jesus said that in the same way that Moses lifted up a snake in the desert to act as a focal point for faith when there is repentance, so he will act as a focal point for sinners to come to God and receive eternal life. What we sometimes forget is that our verses today are inextricably linked to the well known verse that follows: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (3:16). Jesus was going to be lifted up so that he becomes a focus of belief that has been given by the Father, so that believers can receive eternal life.

What is this ‘lifting up'? We suggest it has four applications. The first application is Jesus being lifted up on the Cross, where he hung above mankind until his life was released to death as he took our sin and the crowds cried, “Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” (Mt 27:40). The second application was when he was lifted up by the Father and raised from the dead to confirm who he was: “You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead” (Acts 3:15). The third application was when he was lifted up from the earth and ascended to heaven: “After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.” (Acts 1:9). The final application is when he was exalted and seated at his Father's right hand as the reigning Son of God: “Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:33) By his death, his resurrection, his ascension, and now his present reign, he gives us grounds for belief and as we believe so we receive the Father's pardon and eternal life.

Of course there is actually a fifth future application which flows from the fourth one: “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil 2:9-11) Yes, there is coming yet a future lifting up or exaltation where every person will acknowledge him. He is the Lord!

Jn 3:14,15   Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life

Today, on average, we live a lot longer than say a hundred years ago. Scientists say that better health and better food means we will live longer, but we still all know that at some point our body will stop functioning and we will die. In folk lore there are stories of elixirs, and in science fiction there are tales of happenings, that enable a man to carry on and on and on. It is a strange idea but one that catches the imagination.

And then we come to the Bible and are presented with the concept of eternity – existence that has no beginning or end. God is so described: “Abraham…. called upon the name of the LORD, the Eternal God” (Gen 21:33). Moses declared, “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deut 33:27). For references to ‘eternal life' we have to wait until the New Testament. It is interesting to note that Matthew uses ‘eternal' 6 times, Mark 3 times, Luke 4 times, but John who has contemplated these big issues of life for much longer, 16 times. Eternal life is a big issue with John, this life with no beginning and no end. Perhaps a similar word is ‘everlasting' which is used quite often in the Old Testament but only 3 times in the whole of the New Testament. ‘Everlasting' seems to mean time that goes on and on, whereas ‘eternal' suggests timelessness. Thus God is described as both everlasting (e.g. Isa 40:28) and eternal. He goes on and on throughout time but He also exists outside of time and is not affected by it.

In Matthew, the first of the few references to ‘eternal life is: “Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?" (Mt 19:16). Our verses today are the first of a number of such references in John. What is clear here is that belief in Jesus results in eternal life, a new form of life without beginning or end. But surely if we receive it at some point in time, it has a beginning? That is only true if we see eternal life as a state of existence, one minute we are in ordinary life, the next we have stepped into a new dimension where life goes on and on and on. However, that is not the heart of the meaning of it, for we saw above that God is eternal and in fact nothing else is eternal, only that which emanates from Him. Eternal life is the actual life of God. Jesus said, “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself.” (Jn 5:26). The Father has this life, this characteristic, and the Son also has it. What the Gospel declares is that whoever receives the Son receives God's very presence into His life, and that presence is eternal. When we become a Christian we receive this eternal presence into our life and of course He has no beginning or end.

A little bit earlier Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” (Jn 5:24). Our life before we became Christians was considered death. It was existence that was strictly limited. When we receive him, we receive his life and he in us, his Spirit united with our spirit, means that now we have moved into an eternal existence. Physical death for us is merely a releasing of the real us to live in God's eternal presence eternally. Without Jesus there is eternal death (Mt 18:8, 25:41,46), presumably eternal because spirit cannot end once created. With Jesus there is blessing upon blessing which continues on without interruption – eternal life! That is the promise.

Jn 3:35    The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.

In the age in which we live, in Britain in the early part of the twenty first century, there is one particular tragedy that stands out and which has devastating effects. It is that of fathers abandoning their wives and their children. Far back in history, before people commuted to work (!), men worked from home or from a location close to home and the family unit being a lot closer had a part in that work. Son would thus join the father in his work and eventually the father would hand over the business to the son who would pass it on to his son. Today all of that has gone and the concept of closeness of father and son seems almost alien, which is why the significance of our verse today may be lost on us.

Already in these meditations we have considered something of the closeness of the Father and the Son as revealed by John in his Gospel. There is something quite glorious in this verse, about intimacy and trust. Jesus declares something very simple but very profound: “The Father loves the Son.” Sadly today many sons could not say that about their fathers, but Jesus knew it as a truth. Here in human form, separated from his Father in heaven, he still knew the Father loved him. It is part of human experience to know we are loved and where that is missing that is tragic. It is part of the confidence that the Son has. Already the Father has intervened on earth to declare His approval of His Son (Mt 3:17) as Jesus was being baptized. Approval indicates confidence and Jesus has that assurance, that confidence, from his Father. He knows he is loved and that love inspires confidence in what he does.

But then comes this incredible statement: “The Father … has placed everything in his hands”. What is this ‘everything'? It is the whole of the work or ministry that Jesus has come to do. The outcome of your salvation and my salvation was entirely in Jesus' hands. He came first to reveal the Father through the works that he performed. As we've already seen, the miracles were to act as signs pointing toward God, for whoever had eyes to see. The works in themselves, and the preaching and teaching that he brought, turned many to God and revealed God's love to many in those three brief years. But then came the Cross, that work into eternity that took your sin and my sin so that we might be pardoned and forgiven and cleansed when we turned to God, so that justice could be seen to be done and all sin punished. This staggering work on the Cross was the means of all history being changed. All of that was committed into Jesus' hands. The Father entrusted him with that work, something they had agreed upon before the foundation of the world.

This is the staggering truth, that the Godhead had placed the eternal future of many in the human race upon this one human body that carried the eternal Son. It seems such a fragile plan, dependant upon one human body, who had all of this eternal plan placed in his hands. The success or failure for a family for God in eternity depended on Jesus and the Father trusted him with it. How did the Son achieve it? We've seen it before: he watched the Father moving and followed His lead (Jn 5:19) and “the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son” (Jn 5:22). Yes, the assessment of each human being is dependent on Jesus. It is first how each one of us responds to the Good News of Jesus Christ that we are saved or condemned, and the Son, now seated at the Father's right hand in heaven confirms the assessment and saves or judges on the basis of our response to him. Awesome!

Jn 4:7     When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?"

Our world is riven with divisions of all sorts. It seems division is one of the ‘natural' fruits of Sin. The first sin in the Garden of Eden demonstrated that. The couple were immediately divided from God (they hid from Him, Gen 3:8) and from each other (he blamed her, Gen 3:12 ). In our world today we have prejudice – nationality against nationality, colour against colour, creed against creed etc. etc. – but also divisions at all levels of relational society – people against government or authority, employees versus employer, parent versus child. Division is rife.

In Jesus day, the Samaritans were a sort of under-class in the eyes of the traditional Jews. Their history meant that they had become a mixed race and in Jewish eyes, inferior. Women were largely seen as the inferior gender and power and authority was mostly in male hands, and often badly used. A woman on her own in public was likely to be considered dubious, they was some probably dubious reason why she was on her own; three things that make this woman who appears at the well where Jesus was resting, questionable, a woman who a respectable male Jew would avoid. Not so Jesus.

Jesus had no problem crossing national, religious, class or cultural boundaries. He was happy to talk to Romans (Mt 8:5-), Greeks (Mk 7:26 ), Samaritans, (4:7), civic leaders (Jn 3:1), blind beggars (Jn 9:1-), the morally strict (Mk 12:13 -), the religiously liberal (Mk 12:18 -), and the morally lax (Lk 15:1); Jesus came to ‘the world'.

It is perhaps easy to say this or write this, but the truth is that Jesus did it but we find it incredibly difficult. What would be the person or people you would find it difficult to speak to? Would it be the member of the Royal family? Would it be a powerful company director? Would it be a way-out pop star? Would it be a heavy metal addict? Would it be a drug addict? Would it be an alcoholic? Would it be an AIDS infected person? Would it be a known criminal? Would it be a wife beater? Would it be a paedophile? Would it be a Nazi, a Communist, a Conservative, a Socialist, or a Liberal? Would it be a beggar or simply someone unemployed? Would it be someone mentally retarded or physically disabled? Would it be a homosexual? Would it be an adulterer? Would it be a pornographer? Would they be black or white or brown? Would they be Muslim, Hindu or Jew? Would they be French or German or Spanish or a hundred other nationalities? If they came hungry and seeking, Jesus would not have a problem with any of these and hundreds of other types or groups that you might think of.

How did Jesus relate so easily to this woman in our verse today? First of all he knew he has something that could bless her: “Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.'” (v.10). He also knew her plight: “you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband” (v.18). That was true of whoever came to Jesus. He knew he had resources to bless them and he knew their situation and their plight. Jesus came into the world to reveal God's love – to whoever! We struggle to get past a person's colour, their clothes, their appearance, their language, their expressions, their background, their philosophy of life, their quirks, and their unpleasantness, but Jesus sees past all of that and sees what they could become when they know his Father.

Jn 4:10- 14     Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." ….Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

If you were an alien who had just arrived on earth and didn't know what water was, John's Gospel would be rather a mystery to you, because water keeps on cropping up. Jesus was baptized in water (1:33), he turned water into wine (2:6-), he referred to our natural birth as birth of water (3:5), he speaks about water to this Samaritan woman (4:7-), he healed a man by a mystical pool of water (5:1-), he walked on water (6:19), he spoke about streams of water to refer to the coming Holy Spirit (7:38), he washed his disciples feet with water (13:5), water poured out when he was pierced on the Cross (19:34), and his last miracle was on water (21:7). What all this says is that water is very common. There is lots of it on the earth and we use it to drink, to wash, to cook with and to manufacture things. Without it we'd be dead. Water is a vital and essential element of our lives.

The Samaritan woman has come looking for water, ordinary water from the well, but does Jesus sense another yearning in her? It's a strange thing isn't it, that we can have different yearnings. When we haven't drunk for a while we're thirsty, we yearn for water. In that respect water is symbolic of all the material things we need to stay alive. Yet the truth is that we find yearnings within us that go beyond material yearnings. We have yearnings for love, for beauty, for meaning in life. Without these things ‘life' is very ‘dry'. The woman was very jaded about life. She's been through a number of relationships which had all failed or passed. Whether her husbands left her or had died we aren't told, but she's had five already. Even for a Hollywood movie star that's going some. More than that, she's living with a man now who's not her husband. For this woman life is unreliable and upsetting. When we form relationships we anguish when they end. This woman yearns for something permanent, something stable, something that will put security into her life, something that will transform it. She comes with at least two needs, therefore.

Jn 4:16-19     He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back." "I have no husband," she replied. Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true." "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet.

There is the well-known instruction, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” (Lk 6:31) It's well known because it is often quoted and also because it's acceptable to most people. Why is it acceptable to most people? It is acceptable to most people because they like its sentiment. We want other to treat us well and so we see that as a good standard for behaviour generally. The apostle Paul when he was teaching the Corinthian church said, “everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort” (1 Cor 14:3). In other words, anyone who is bringing a word to individuals from God will be speaking with the aim of strengthening, encouraging and comforting. “Ah, but what about correcting and rebuking,” says my legalistic friend. “Surely the word of God is ‘useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness' ” ( 2 Tim 3:16 ). Exactly, but watch how Jesus does it.

Jesus knows this woman as he knows every person he encounters. He knows what her state in life is. Does he chide her? Does he rebuke her? No, he tells her to do something that provokes her to speak the truth about herself. She starts facing herself by Jesus' seemingly innocent instruction. Once she acknowledges her basic state, Jesus ‘fills in the gaps' and speaks detail into her life, and concludes with the disarming words, “What you have just said is quite true.” He isn't having a go at her, and so she doesn't act defensively. Is his main intention to convict her of her sub-standard life and bring her to repentance? Yes and no! Ultimately he does want her to face the truth about herself because he knew that, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (Jn 8:32 ), i.e. facing the truth about ourselves is the first step towards salvation. However, he has a greater desire, for her to realize who he really is. When we realize who Jesus is and come to him, everything else (including our past sub-standard lives) falls into place.

What was the end result of Jesus words? The woman went away full of the encounter and wanting others to come and meet Jesus. Without any doubt she was strengthened, encouraged and comforted. Her encounter with Jesus had not left her feeling thoroughly embarrassed, exposed or got into a corner. Oh no, to the contrary, it has had a remarkably liberating effect upon her. And how had that happened? She had encountered a gentle prophet!

How often do we or others feel we have to put others' lives right? That's not the call of the Gospel; it is to introduce them to Jesus so that he can put their lives right! How do we share the Gospel? I know when I was a young Christian I was in ‘attacking mode' and I know there are still many people who do that, but Jesus comes to each individual with respect, and care and concern for them. He allowed this Samaritan woman to speak about something of her situation and then he showed he knew all about it, but without condemning her. The result was that she felt good and her life was changed. That's how Jesus comes to each one of us. Yes he comes to confront but he does it in such a gentle way we sometimes hardly realize that's what he is doing, until we find ourselves confessing our state to him. Can we be like him?

Jn 4:31,32   Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something." But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about."

In the days of Israel 's post-exile history, Malachi shows us that this was a people who hardly dared believe that God was there, and as a result their spiritual activities were almost negligible. Today, in a word of great busyness and stress, the ‘church experience' of many Christians has been reduced because, “I am too tired'. The assumption seems to be that God cannot refresh. It is a wrong assumption!

Yes Jesus got tired, that's why he was sitting at the well while the disciples went to find food (4:6,8). We might have just stood and watched as the woman came to the well and drew water, but Jesus obviously responded to the prompting of his Father and entered into this life changing conversation we've been considering. What was Jesus' priority in life? "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” (v.34). Yes, the will of God was the crucial thing that guided him in all he did and he knew that he had been sent by the Father with a purpose (see 5:30; 6:38; 8:26; 9:4; 10:37-38; 12:49-50; 14:31; 15:10; 17:4).

For Jesus, doing God's will was energy giving; it was like food to him. Now the reality is that when we do God's will He will provide for us. At the heart of the Old Testament covenant were blessings and curses (Deut 28). When the people obeyed their side of the covenant, God's side wasn't that He would leave them in peace. Oh no, it was that He would bless them with great abundance. Abundant material provision for His obedient people was His side of the agreement.

The apostle Paul came to realize this same thing was there as part of the new covenant that comes with Jesus. Jesus himself is the source of our provision. Listen to Paul's extravagant language: “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” (2 Cor 9:8). Does this say that you will have all of God's grace to sit around feeling good? No you will have it so that , you will abound in every good work! As we obey the Lord's prompting and so enter into His ‘work' He will bless you with all you need. (Remember our calling: “we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works” - Eph 2:8). Not sure about it still? Listen to some more of Paul's words: “my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:19 ) and “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Phil 4:13).

The key to not getting over tired is not to do what God hasn't led you to do, and not to use up resources He hasn't asked you to use, because He will not replenish what you have squandered. The other side of that coin is that when we respond to His leading and do the things He's guided us to do, in the way He shows us to do them, then we find that there are resources there we previously didn't know about. Will we get tired? Yes. Will we be exhausted? No. Why? Because the difference between tiredness and exhaustion is the difference between God's will and going beyond it, and between receiving His resources and going beyond the supply (and most of us do that at sometime in our life – it's a learning thing, and we sometimes have to learn again and again!) Jesus is our model, the Son who had the Father's will in the forefront of his thinking, and responded to His Spirit to do what His Father did. Result? Food! Resources!

Jn 4:49-53   The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies." Jesus replied, "You may go. Your son will live." The man took Jesus at his word and departed. While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, "The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour." Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and all his household believed.

Faith in the face of a crisis is a difficult thing, especially when the crisis is life threatening. In this story of miraculous deliverance from death, which John calls Jesus' second ‘sign' (v.54), Jesus has just returned north into Galilee from his trip south to Jerusalem. He arrives in Cana , the place where there had been a wedding feast where Jesus had turned water into wine, described by John as Jesus' first ‘sign'. Now whether that miracle had been gossiped around and caused hope for this situation is not made clear, but it is likely. John isn't into ‘coincidences'.

There is a royal official who, because it is in Galilee, would probably be part of Herod's household, a Jew, living in Capernaum, whose son becomes very ill, on the verge of death. The man comes to Jesus and pleads for his help. Jesus' response is not to go with him but to simply tell him his son will be well. Now this is where it is remarkable: The man took Jesus at his word and departed. Something about Jesus demeanour, or his words, were sufficient to convince this man that it would be all right, so he returns from Cana to Capernaum . On the journey back he encounters some of his servants coming to find him to tell him that his son is all right. He enquires when it happened and realized that it was exactly at the time when Jesus declared him well.

So simple is this story and so straight forwardly told, that it is easy to miss the heart of it: a boy is being pursued by death and Jesus declares it will not happen. Now the way John tells it, it hardly seems that Jesus rebukes death but John clearly identifies it as a ‘miraculous' sign (v.54) and the fact that he records the man fearing his son's death does mean it was life threatening. Thus we have in almost a low-key way, Jesus standing against death and saving the life of a young man – without moving a step! Now Cana is almost twenty miles from Capernaum and so we see Jesus uttering a word in one place and nearly twenty miles away creeping death is reversed! It would be easy, with the skepticism of unbelief and doubt, to declare the reversal of this fever as something that just happened and it was a coincidence that ‘just happened' that the fever abated while the father was in Cana, but John won't have of that! Oh no, that's why John adds his own commentary to the account of what happened, “This was the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having come from Judea to Galilee” (v.54)

This Jesus is not just a greater healer who reaches out his hand and imparts a healing touch; no, he is the Son of God with the authority of the Father so that he can speak a word and it doesn't matter where it is, the thing is done. Distance is of no consequence when you are God's Son. This is the point that John is making here as he includes this miracle in his book. Don't ever think of Jesus as ‘just' another preacher, or healer; he is the living Son of God to whom the Father has entrusted all authority, and that includes authority to rebuke death and release life. Of course if you are God and you have made this world by speaking a word, it's easy to speak a word and change it!